Leviticus 13:24-59; Mark 6:16-29; Psalms 40:1-3; Proverbs 13:9-10
Psalms: “I waited patiently for the Lord, and he turned to me and heard my cry for help. He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and they will trust in the Lord.” (Psalms 40:1-3 CSB)
Waiting patiently can be a hard thing to do. I’ve written this before – but waiting is not passively sitting around doing nothing. Waiting, in the Biblical sense, has hope and expectation attached to it. It is being in a state of readiness. You have all your stuff together and you are ready to go as soon as the master says, “It’s time.” My dog has waiting down. When it is time for her breakfast, she waits for me. She knows that I am going to feed her. If I’m in my office working, she will make her presence known and then lay down and wait. Even though she is laying down, she is ready… and as soon as she senses that I am done with what I am doing, she leaps to her feet, ready to go. David was in a deep, dark, mucky place and he cried out to the Lord… and then he waited. He didn’t try and make things happen for himself – he waited… knowing that the Lord would help him… knowing that at any time, the Lord would come to his aid. He was ready, full of hope, and full of expectation. Do we know how to wait like that? Confident that the Lord will respond, no matter how long it takes… Confident in the Lord to the point that we don’t start trying to rescue ourselves and end up getting into a deeper funk. As David expected, the Lord did respond. The Lord lifted him out of the muck and mess, and set him up high on a solid rocky pedestal – far away from the mess, and exalted for all to see. Then the Lord put a new song of praise for God in his mouth. God’s deliverance was so amazing, so good, so thorough that David couldn’t help but sing… not an old song written of God’s faithfulness in the past, but inspired by what had just happened in the present, by I AM, the ever-present, always working, ever-faithful, ever-living God. David said that many will see what God did for him, many will hear his song, and many will put their trust in the Lord in the same way he did. Is our faith story about things in the past when we once trusted in the Lord, or is our faith story alive and living with examples of God working in our lives now, as we place our trust and expectation in Him and wait patiently? Lord, may my life ever be a new song of praise continuously written as You continuously make Yourself known in me and through me as I wait patiently on you.
Proverbs: “The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is put out. Arrogance leads to nothing but strife, but wisdom is gained by those who take advice.” (Proverbs 13:9-10 CSB)
The light of the righteous is the light of life that bursts forth from them, evidencing the work of blessing that God is doing in them. A lamp is often times symbolic of succession or descendants. The wicked, because they have no life from God, will have nothing of value to pass down to their descendants. They may have things, but they won’t have life and blessing to give. Wisdom is gained by humbling yourself and asking advice of the Lord and of those who hear the Lord in their own lives. It doesn’t matter how much you know, you will never know everything. And wisdom, which is the skill to properly apply your knowledge, comes from taking advice – not arrogantly going on your own.
Jamie Hicks 